Countywide : Judge Extends Baby’s Stay in Vancouver

Trying to avoid a clash with a Canadian court, an Orange County Superior Court judge on Monday agreed that a part-Aleut baby should stay with her prospective adoptive parents in Canada until a legal dispute over her future can be decided.

Judge Robert J. Polis had ruled earlier that 7-month-old Rebecca Argleben should stay with the couple in Vancouver, Canada, until Jan. 29.

But Polis extended that order Monday in light of Friday’s ruling by an appeals court in Vancouver, which held that Rebecca should remain where she is until May or June, when the appeals court will decide whether it has jurisdiction to decide the case.

Rebecca’s native Aleut mother, Jodi Argleben, 18, of Cypress, wants to have her baby adopted by a non-Indian family, but her Alaskan tribe contends that the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act entitles it to make sure that the child is placed with an Aleut family. Polis ruled Jan. 19 that the Aleuts do have such authority under that law.

Monday, Polis agreed to reconsider that ruling in light of a December decision by the Alaskan Supreme Court, which held that the Indian Child Welfare Act is intended to apply only when Indian parents are giving their baby up involuntarily. A hearing was set for Feb. 13.

If Polis holds to his earlier ruling, Argleben’s attorney plans to argue on March 12 that a loophole in the Indian Child Welfare Act still allows her to override the tribe’s wishes and decide who will raise her baby.

Argleben’s lawyer, Christian R. Van Deusen, argued Monday that Polis should drop the case in Orange County and let the Canadian court decide the matter, since the case is on appeal there.

Polis acknowledged that parallel tracks of litigation in two countries might produce conflicting rulings. But he refused to drop the case, noting that the Canadian trial court had decided that Orange County was the proper place to resolve the dispute. It is that Canadian ruling which is on appeal there.